Offering Renowned Care for Critically Ill Infants

Holtz is home to one of the largest neonatal intensive care units in the nation, known world-wide for its success in caring for critically ill infants. The Project: New Born Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a designated Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Center by the state of Florida and boasts some of the best survival rates and successful outcomes in the country.

The NICU is staffed 24 hours a day by an experienced medical team — including neonatologists, neonatal nurses, respiratory therapists and pharmacists — specially trained in caring for such small and sick children. This team works with physicians and pediatric surgeons in other specialty areas, as well as with parents and families, to ensure each child receives the best care possible.

Making Miracles Happen at Holtz

The NICU offers a full range of advanced therapies for neonates including all modalities of mechanical ventilation, high frequency ventilation, nitric oxide therapy, whole body hypothermia, ECMO therapy and surgical intervention for complex conditions. Holtz is unique within Miami-Dade County because it is the only birthing hospital where the most complex level of care is available to mothers and their infants. The NICU, adjacent to the labor and delivery unit, offers sick newborns rapid access to necessary treatment and care from specialists from all disciplines at Holtz.

The section of the NICU that cares for the very smallest and sickest babies (NICU-A) was recently renovated to better enable the delivery of state-of-art care while providing a more comforting environment for patients and their families. The new layout and facilities include an expanded nursing station, a dedicated satellite pharmacy that serves just these smallest children, computerized x-ray viewing areas, and a comfortable parent counseling room so parents can meet doctors in privacy while never leaving the unit. The $1.8 million renovation was made possible with generous contributions from the Banyan Society of Project: New Born, the Jackson Memorial Foundation and Bank of America.  

Transporting Your Child to Holtz 

Our NICU not only cares for infants born at Holtz, but also accepts transfers and referrals from other hospitals in Florida, and from other areas of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean via fixed wing or helicopter transport. The transport vehicles are equipped with state-of-the-art critical care unit with crew and equipment capable of providing continuity of care en route for critically ill neonates.

Follow-Up Care

Holtz also offers support services for parents and families with premature or sick children and developmental services for the infants. For patients in the NICU, Holtz offers physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Once the children are discharged, they can continue to receive follow-up care through the Developmental Follow-Up Clinic at the University of Miami Mailman Center for Child Development, which has cared for high-risk infants for over 35 years.

Since the time factor is such a crucial aspect in the care of ill neonates, the Neonatal Transport Team is on call 24 hours a day. A neonatal transport may be arranged at any time by calling the Project: New Born Neonatal Special Care Center's ICU at 305-585-5140.